The underside of a vehicle is generally difficult to inspect without various tools including mirrors and light sources or requires an inspector to lay or crouch on or proximate the ground to physically see under the vehicle. For maintenance purposes, a vehicle is either hoisted above the ground, or parked over an opening wherein a mechanic can access the area below the vehicle for inspection. However, at locations where on-site surveillance and inspection of various vehicles coming and going is required for safety and security, the underside of each vehicle can be difficult to inspect for foreign objects, some of which may be dangerous or illegal.
Prior art systems for surveillance and inspection are limited and generally require a mirror affixed to a long stick, and a portable light source to be shone under the vehicle for real-time surveillance by an operator moving the mirror as needed. Alternatively, some prior art systems utilize a camera which is positioned along the underbody of a vehicle for capturing series of still images, which can then be pieced together and analyzed to determine the state of the underbody of the vehicle. The prior art systems for on-site surveillance and/or inspection either require significant mobility and time consumption by an operator or fail to incorporate a system for easy, comprehensive, selectively controlled and real-time surveillance and inspection.